Plano-hammer



C. J. AND W. J. PFBIEMER. PIANO HAMMER.

APPLICATiON FILED Mm 15, I919.

1,365,340. Patented Jan/11, 1921.

INVENTORY WITNESSES- A TTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES JOSEPH PFRIEMER AND WILLIAM J. PFRIEMER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PIANO-HAMMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

Application filed March 15, 1919. Serial No. 282,844.

To all whom it may concern Be. it'known that we, CHARLES J. PFRInnun andWILLIAM J. PFRIEMER, citizens of the United States, and residents of thecity of New York, borough of the Bronx, in the county of Bronx and Stateof New York, have invented a new and Improved Piano- Hammer, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description.

. This invention relates to improvements in piano hammers and consistsin the combination construction and arrangement hereafter described andclaimed.

Among the objects of our invention is to provide a device by means ofwhich the clasticity of the felt, or its equivalent, is in creased.

A further object is to provide a piano hammer with the felt so securedand fastened as to be entirely free from direct contact with the wood orlike material which may form the hammer head or molding directlyconnected with the piano action.

A still further object is to simplify the construction of piano hammersso as to make effective the foregoing and other specific objects.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact detailsof construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose ofillustrating the best known embodiment thereof reference is had to theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a sideelevation showing one of our improved hammers applied to the lowerregister of the piano and indicating its relation to the strings of anupright piano.

Fig. 2' is a horizontal section and partial plan on the line 2-2 of Fig.1, the view be ing on a larger scale than Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a striking end view of a hammer such as indicated in Fig. 2;and

. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a treble hammer in accordance with ourinvention.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings we show a hammer head ormolding 10 made of wood or any other sultable material and carried asusual on the outer end of a hammer shank 11 constitutlng a part of thepiano action. The head is so formed as to receive a'properly shaped base12 of high grade resilient rubber or any other suitable material sodisposed as to serve to insulate or cushion the inner surface of thehammer head from direct contact with the felt striking member 13.

The felt is secured in the base or cushion 12 in any suitable manner,but as shown the body of felt consists of a strip skived or thinned atits ends and folded in the middle bringing the thinned or skived endportions together within the cushion as indicated at 13 The tone qualityof a piano depends primarily on the vibrations of the strings 14; andthese vibrations may be controlled within limits by the attacking force.These vibrations are increased or diminished as a result of the blowstruck by the hammer and the quick escapement of the hammer from thestring after striking. This escapement of the hammer from the string isaccelerated by the resilient action of the material used in the base orcushion 12. The fact that the felt or striking member 13 of this hammeris attached solely to and carried by or within the resilient andinsulating base or cushion 12 and spaced from immediate contact with thehammer head or molding 10, tends to overcome to a large extent thedisagreeable knock or thum of the wood or other material through thefelt striking member incident to the usual piano hammer construction.

The treble hammer 10', shown in Fig. l on a scale proportional to Figs.2 and 3 of a lower register hammer, is made preferably in the samemanner but differing in design according to the register, a fact wellunderstood in the piano hammer art. The features of improvement thoughon a smaller scale are the same as above set forth.

Te claim:

1. A piano hammer comprising a head having a rounded bottom cavity inits striking end, a cushion of resilient solid rubber fitted in. saidcavity and having a notch, and a striking member carried entirely bysaid cushion in its notch and remote from the head.

2. A piano hammer comprising a head having a rounded bottomed cavity inits striking end, a body of resilient material correspondingly shapedand fitted in said cavity and having a V-shaped recess therein remotefrom the head, and a striking body of fibrous resilient material fittedinto said V- shaped recess and having a rounded striking surfaceprojecting beyond the same.

3. The herein described piano hammer comprising a head having-a forkedstriking end, a resilient body constituting a cushion of rubber fittedin said fork and having an outside V-shaped recess, and a fibrousresilient striking body having tapered ends folded together andprojecting into said V- shuped recess and so held in the same supportedby the cushion remote from the forked )ortion of the head.

C ARLES JOSEPH PFRIEMER, WILLIAM J. PFRIEMER.

